Apple iPhone 6S Review

A few months ago Apple released the iPhone 6S and if you’re not familiar with the Apple practice you may be confused about this new iPhone as it looks identical to the iPhone 6 but fear not they are not the same. On the inside at least.

There is better hardware, improved camera, stronger case, the new 3D Touch and (at last) 2GB of RAM. Over the years the ‘S’ always brought something new to the plate, the iPhone 4S added Siri and the iPhone 5S had the Touch ID fingerprint sensor.

The main addition to the iPhone 6s is definitely the new pressure-sensitive touchscreen technology named the 3D Touch that although right now is quite awesome and will definitely become more interesting when more apps are released for it.

Overall, what Apple has to do is to convince people that the S variant of iPhone 6 is worth the upgrade, even if there are a lot of other smartphones to choose from and unfortunately the iPhone 6S doesn’t seem like a game changer, it only has some subtle upgrades that do have a lot of potential with future updates or installments.

Design

At first glance, the iPhone 6S seems identical to the iPhone 6, it has the same rounded corners and edges, but there are some subtle design changes.

The front of the phone is now stronger, the glass being less likely to shatter if the phone is dropped and lastly, the iPhone 6S is now made of the 7000 series aluminum.

As said before, these changes are subtle and will most likely go unnoticed by most. The volume buttons, the silencer switch and the power key are in the same place as last year and this isn’t a bad thing because the phone is easy to operate with one hand and the buttons are exactly where they should be.

As a side note, the iPhone 6S is compatible with iPhone 6 cases.

Design

The iPhone 6S seems to have the same display as the iPhone 6, featuring a 4.7-inch LED-backlit IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1334x750p, 16 million colours and a pixel density of 326ppi.

Although there are far cheaper phones that offer 1080p resolution or even 4K display(which is a serious overkill!), the iPhone 6S still offers a great display experience, being crisp and clear, with deep blacks, bright whites and very accurate colours.

While the resolution stays the same there is one major addition from the last year’s flagship. You are now presented with the 3D Touch which offers a completely new way to interact with the iPhone.

This opens up whole new possibilities. If right now you can only open pop-up windows, trigger quick actions or expand, preview links and messages and there is a lot that can be done in the future.

This translates into smoother multitasking, better handling of graphically-demanding tasks (like playing games), there was no stuttering, no dropped frames and the phone never lagged while we used it.

But there are some shortcomings. Apple decided to keep 16GB as base memory for iPhone 6S and because there isn’t a microSD slot, filling up those 16GB will happen in no time.

Software

The iOS has always been the backbone of the iPhones and the new installment, the iOS 9 offers the same stability and user-friendliness we were accustomed to and thanks to its subtle tweaks over the years and the new added 3D touch, the iOS 9 is the best iPhone software to date.

As always, the iOS is quick and responsive, the App Store is still vibrant (and of higher quality than Google Play Store) and the apps have suffered some transformations and upgrades.

The Apple Maps, now, has transit directions, there is a News app, that is quite basic, pulling topics from different sources in a magazine-style interface. Notifications are now filtered by time, not by app and thanks to the M9 coprocessor, Siri is always on standby you can now you can wake it by yelling Hey Siri instead of pressing a button. Siri, also, can respond to a lot more commands.

The 3D Touch is its main feature and although in its infancy, is implemented the best with Apple’s Mail. You can preview messages, archive them or mark them as unread.

Battery Life

The iPhone 6S features a non-removable 1715 mAh battery. Yes, you heard that right, the battery is actually smaller, a downgrade from the iPhone 6’s 1810mAh.

There have been complaints about the battery from the iPhone 6 and yeah, Apple didn’t quite addressed this issue. Anyway, the battery life averaged at 15 to 16 hours a day and there are a lot of people who need to recharge their iPhone 6S during the mid-afternoon.

It’s not like it isn’t understandable, the reason being the implementation of 3D Touch. The battery didn’t have enough space and they wanted to keep the same design as iPhone 6. Still, there are lots of smartphones that feature 4000mAh and battery life is usually a deciding factor for buyers.

Conclusion

Is iPhone 6S a great phone? Yes, it is. It does have its unique features and they promise a great deal in future updates. Is it worth upgrading over iPhone 5S? The users of iPhone 5S are the main target, the iPhone 6S being leagues ahead from all points of view (better camera, larger screen, better display, higher performance, a lot more stable).

But can Apple convince iPhone 6 users to upgrade to 6S? Maybe. Right now, the iPhone 6S doesn’t offer something revolutionary and it is pretty close to the iPhone 6, but it may be worth getting a taste of these early installments (like 3D Touch) ahead of everyone, before it gets widespread. And if you want to switch from Android or Windows or you’re just curious how iOS works, then the iPhone 6S is the best choice.